Annual Lecture Series (in-person)
Lunchtime Talks (in-person)
Conferences (in-person)
Online-Only Events
Adolf Grünbaum 2022 Memorial Lecture James Owen Weatherall, Department of Logic and Philosophy of Science, UC Irvine The Philosophy Behind Dark Matter Abstract: According to the Standard Model of Cosmology, more than 80% of the total matter in the universe is "dark": it does not emit or reflect light, and so its presence and properties […]
Ravit Dotan, University of California Berkeley, Center Postdoc Fellow Participatory AI Ethics Governance ABSTRACT: I am designing a new approach for AI ethics governance, based on meaningful stakeholder participation. Currently, the prominent approach in AI ethics governance focuses on articulating AI ethics principles on topics such as transparency, fairness, and privacy. A minority of organizations […]
The New Modern Medicine Description: In this local online workshop, guests will respond to themes and work-in-progress from Jonathan Fuller’s current book project, titled The New Modern Medicine. This monograph explores characteristic philosophical problems that arise in the medicine that emerged by the late twentieth century, especially around contemporary epidemics (cancers, chronic diseases, and emerging infectious diseases), […]
Cordelia Fine, School of Historical and Philosophical Studies, University of Melbourne Fairly Criticised or Dangerously Politicised? Conflicts in Sex/Gender Science Conflicts in the Neuroscience of Sex Differences in the Human Brain Investigations of sex differences in the human brain take place on politically sensitive terrain. While some scholars express concern that gendered biases and stereotypes […]
Edouard Machery, Distinguished Professor of HPS, University of Pittsburgh Formal Modeling in Philosophy of Science - Let’s be realistic! ABSTRACT: In recent years, formal models have become increasingly important in philosophy of science, particularly among social epistemologists. They have also become an important component of metascience. This talk will argue that formal modelers in philosophy […]
Caspar Jacobs, Dept. of HPS, University of Pittsburgh Are Mass Scalings Symmetries of Newtonian Mechanics? ABSTRACT: There has been some recent debate over whether mass scalings - uniform scalings of all particle masses - are symmetries of Newtonian mechanics. The brief answer is that this depends on whether one also inversely scales G, the gravitational […]
Featured Former Fellow Lunchtime Talk: Naftali Weinberger, Munich Center for Mathematical Philosophy Signal Manipulation and the Causal Analysis of Racial Discrimination ABSTRACT: Discrimination is, in part, a causal concept. To say that an individual was discriminated against based on race entails that her race made a difference to how she was treated. Yet demographic variables […]
Nicholas Rescher, Distinguished University Professor of Philosophy, University of Pittsburgh A Fallen Branch from the Tree of Knowledge: The Failure of Futurology. ABSTRACT: The talk will examine the futurology bubble of the 1950-1980 era, and considers the reasons for its rise and demise. Please Note: Non-Pitt individuals who want to attend our in-person talks must […]
Robert Batterman, Dept. of Philosophy, University of Pittsburgh Mesoscale Models and Many-Body Physics ABSTRACT: What is the best way to study the bulk behavior of many-body systems? A natural, common sentiment among philosophers and physicists is to take a foundational perspective. Examine the theory that characterizes the interactions among the components of such many-body systems […]
Robert Pennock, Distinguished University Professor of Philosophy, Michigan State University Curiosity Systematized: Virtue Philosophy of Science and the Philosophy of Mind ABSTRACT: I have argued for a virtue philosophy of science as a normative reconstruction of the mindset and characteristic practices of scientists—a peculiarly curious population of knowledge-seekers. Arising in relation to the scientific task […]
Eugen Fischer, University of East Anglia, Center Visiting Fellow Experimental Argument Analysis: How Stereotypes Shape Arguments ABSTRACT: The analysis of philosophical arguments is commonly regarded as model of an armchair activity. The talk explains when and why experimental methods need to complement familiar armchair methods of argument analysis; it reviews methods from psycholinguistics that can […]
John D. Norton, Distinguished University Professor of HPS, University of Pittsburgh How Analogy Helped Create the New Science of Thermodynamics ABSTRACT: In 1824, Sadi Carnot’s “On the Motive Power of Fire” laid out the general framework of thermodynamics. The work seems to burst unexpected and fully formed into science, brimming with extraordinary, novel ideas. He […]
Gayle Rogers, University of Pittsburgh The Science of Speculation: A Revolution in Experimentation and Moneymaking Abstract: This talk will trace the development of speculation as a twin phenomenon in the scientific and financial revolutions of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Initially doubted as a mode of airy, conjectural thought inferior to demonstrable experimentation, speculation came […]
Eran Tal, Department of Philosophy, McGill University Measurement Outcomes as Best Predictors Abstract: I argue for a view of measurement that treats measurement results (‘outcomes’) as predictors of patterns in data. The data in question may be records of instrument indications, such as thermometer readings, or future data, such as records of health outcomes. Not […]
Laura Menatti, University of the Basque Country, Center Visiting Fellow Health and environment: A Relational Account Abstract In this talk I propose a situated and relational framework to address the relationship between health and environment. This research has been developed at the crossroad of environmental philosophy and philosophy of medicine. Historically, the environment has received little attention in the definitions […]
Ruth Kastner, University of Maryland, Center Visiting Fellow Curing Several Diseases of Physics with One Simple Remedy Abstract: Modern physics presents us with a number of stubborn problems and challenges, chief among them the measurement problem of quantum theory. I suggest that many of these problems arise from an underlying, unduly classical metaphysical picture of […]
Heather Douglas, Michigan State University, Center Senior Visiting Fellow Rethinking Public Funding for Science Abstract: Public funding for science increased dramatically after WWII. The initial justifications for public funding for science centered on the idea that basic research needed public funding because private funding would not be forthcoming for research so far removed from practical […]
Leonardo Bich, University of the Basque Country, Center Visiting Fellow An Operational Approach to Defining Life Abstract: Despite numerous and increasing attempts to define what life is, there is no consensus on necessary and sufficient conditions for life. Accordingly, some scholars have questioned the value of definitions of life and encouraged scientists and philosophers alike […]
Carole Lee, Department of Philosophy, University of Washington Institutional Racism in Science: Black-White Disparities in NIH Grant Review Abstract: In the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement and disproportionately deadly impact of COVID-19 on communities of color, researchers have called for an end to institutional racism in scientific education, publishing, and funding. In this […]
Register to attend in person Register to attend on Zoom PHEP2022: Early Career Conference in Philosophy of Particle & High Energy Physics Particle physics is at a critical juncture: recent monumental experimental work at the Large Hadron Collider led to the Higgs discovery, but has not produced further experimental evidence of new physics. Current searches […]
Featured Former Fellow Lunchtime Talk: Maria Serban, University of East Anglia The trouble with construct validity Abstract: An important part in the methodological discourse of psychology focuses on establishing the field as a hard science. The longstanding operationalist tradition emphasised the commitment to experimentalism, to identifying and individuating measurable variables, and to developing local […]
Serife Tekin, University of Texas, San Antonio Unmuting Patients in Psychiatric Epistemologies: Insights from the Opioid Crisis One of the central aims of psychiatry is to identify the properties of mental disorders to enable their diagnosis and treatment. As a branch of both science and medicine, psychiatry draws on a variety of scientific and medical […]
Senior Visiting Fellow Conference Which scientific research gets pursued, and the details of how it gets pursued, is greatly influenced by the institutional structures which support science. By institutions, we mean those established social structures that direct resources (of various kinds, from money to intellectual property to ethical approval to jobs) for science. Key institutions […]
Ravit Dotan, University of California Berkeley AI Ethics and Investors Abstract: Should investors integrate AI ethics into investment strategies? If so, how? The goal of my talk is to lead a conversation about this topic. To that end, I will go over what AI is, what AI ethics is, how AI ethics can impact companies' […]
Pamela Reinagel The limited role of null hypothesis testing in Biology: A practicing biologist's perspective on the Reproducibility Crisis Abstract: In recent years there has been much discussion of rigor, reliability and reproducibility in science. Some metascience analyses, reproducibility projects, and proposed science reforms appear to make naive assumptions about the goals, methods, and products of […]
Join us for an online lecture by Alison Fernandes (Trinity College) Naturalism, Agency and the Metaphysics of Science Abstract: Methodological naturalism is a plausible approach to the metaphysics of science: we should use the methods of science when giving accounts of what science says there is and what it is like. Methodological naturalism is particularly […]
Cameron Buckner, Department of Philosophy, University of Houston The new DoGMA of Empiricism: Deep Learning and Domain-General Faculties Abstract: Deep learning is a research area in computer science that has over the last ten years produced a series of transformative breakthroughs in artificial intelligence—creating systems that can recognize complex objects in natural photographs as well […]
Join us for a lunch time talk by Aydin Mohseni, University of California, Irvine. Title: Modeling Interventions in the Replication Crisis Scientific studies vary in their methodological soundness. Interventions in evidentiary standards and research practices can differentially affect studies as a function of their soundness. The conjunction of these facts has unrecognized implications for proposed […]
THIS WORKSHOP HAS BEEN POSTPONED TO APRIL 29th An Author Meets Critics Symposium on Jim Woodward’s new book, Causation With a Human Face. "Provides one of the first extended integrated treatments of both the philosophical and psychological literatures on normative and descriptive accounts of causal reasoning." James Woodward is Distinguished Professor of History & Philosophy […]
Artificial intelligence (AI) technologies are becoming ever more prevalent in daily life, and are being used in impactful decisions in fields as diverse as finance and criminal law. Given the multifaceted and complex nature of these technologies, it is crucial that researchers and theorists from fields such as philosophy, psychology, computer science, engineering, policy, […]